Twenty Miles South Of Nowhere
by liveandlove1989
Summary: She thought arranged marriage was the worst thing that could happen to her. But then the Grey Wardens conscripted her, and everything just seemed to fall apart. (Trigger Warnings For: Graphic Scenes and Language)


He was a childish sort of beautiful, she surmised, as she peaked out the open window at her husband-to-be. Nelaros. No matter how many times she spoke the name under her breath, it didn't sound right crossing her tongue. Almost as if it were bitter, or tart. It made her furrow her brow and slip back into the safety of her shared bedroom.

A wall apart, she could hear her father as he went about preparations. He, unlike she, was excited; it gave her incentive to at least _try_ , but surely he could see through the strained smiles she gave. Surely he knew that her anxiety was making a storm's worth of disaster in the pit of her stomach.

She heard the front door swing open. A cacaphony of noise entered with it, the mingled, joyous voices of none other than her cousins. Normally, this was a relief, as it drove away the maddening boredom that encompassed chores around their small hovel. Now? She wanted to shrink back beneath her thin sheet and forget today existed.

Was that truly too much to ask?

"Cousin!" Shianni's voice announced, and she barely had time to turn before slender arms were slipping around her neck and pulling her down into the crushing embrace of her youngest family. Youngest, and certainly not most mature, as the smell of alcohol wafted from her the moment Tabris found her neck being nuzzled against.

She chuckled lowly, looked up and found Soris standing as awkwardly as ever a few feet away. She smiled sincerely towards him.

He was already dressed in his best, tunic smoothed and trousers expertly creased. His fiery hair was combed, a change from its normal dishevelment. None of that seemed to matter, however, as he slouched ever so slightly and had a look of uncertainty that matched the feeling in her gut.

When he spoke, it was open but wavered. "So... today's the day, huh, cousin?"

Tabris felt a pang of sympathy for the younger man. She was fairly certain he was dreading this even more than she. But she swallowed that down and gave her best attempt at a grin. She even went so far as to ruffle Shianni's hair.

"I suppose it doesn't matter at this point. I'd say start running, but we probably wouldn't get too far."

Soris laughed, at least, and Shianni finally peeled herself away to look on at her cousin. Tabris turned the grin on her, and she rolled her eyes. "Come on, cousin! It isn't the end of the world. Nelaros is a lovely man and I'm sure he'll make you very happy."

Before Tabris could respond, Soris spoke up. "Then maybe you should be the one marrying him."

Shianni turned, and Tabris just stood there as the normal back and forth bickering began between the two. She found herself silently wishing Soris' suggestion were a real option. Where she wasn't cruel enough to pawn her problems off on others - least of all her family - she desperately wished she'd been given the option. Where Nelaros probably was a wonderful man, and was bound to make a woman happy someday, Tabris wished that woman didn't have to be herself.

She listened only a moment longer to the bickering before deciding it was better to get the day started and over with before she really did run. Her father would never forgive her for that; the dowry he'd paid was far more than she was worth, and it would have been disgraceful to ignore the effort he'd put into finding her the perfect match. Tabris shook her head and looked to her family.

"Cousins," she addressed, and perhaps it was the tone she used, but both parties immediately paused in their respective insults and looked to her. She felt something akin to embarrassment, for a reason she couldn't understand, at their stares. "Forgive my intrusion, but if it's all the same to you both, I still have to change." She motioned down to her sleep wear as if in emphasis. "May I have a final moment of privacy?"

Soris' cheeks did this funny sort of tinting, and he coughed awkwardly as he brought a hand up to scratch at the back of his neck. "Oh! Of course. We'll be waiting outside." With that, he gently grabbed Shianni's forearm and began to leave.

The younger redhead stumbled after, yelled out, "See you soon!" then all was quiet once again as the door unintentionally slammed shut. Tabris heard her father chuckling at her cousins' antics, commonplace after all these years.

Tabris sighed then, let herself fall heavily against the post of her bunk bed. It was as if all the energy had just been completely sucked out of her, leaving her jittery and nervous. She tried to swallow but her tongue didn't seem to fit right in her mouth, and looking over to the chest that held her wedding gown only had her stomach sinking in a way that made her physically queasy. She was afraid she might just lose the breakfast she hadn't even eaten.

Before she could do such a thing, however, her father peaked around the wall. The wide smile he graced her pulled at his cheeks, made the creases alongside his eyes deepen drastically. He held up a hand as if in mixed greeting and apology.

"I left a surprise for you in the chest last night, da'len." He went quiet a moment too long, and Tabris raised her eyes to meet his gaze, only to find his sights set distractedly off to the left. His voice was considerably lower when he finally mumbled again. "They were your mother's. You'll do her honor to wear them at the ceremony today."

Once more, when she tried to swallow it felt like her throat constricted. She didn't get the chance to speak; Cyrion turned from her and made his way back to the front of their home, leaving her.

Her mother had been brought into this, now. Great. Tabris clenched her jaw as the reality of it crashed into her. It no longer mattered what she wanted. Not now. She had no right slandering her family's name simply because she was too prideful.

Nelaros would make a good husband. He came from a nice upbringing and, if Shianni could be trusted in regards to opinion, he was nice enough. Surely she could learn to love him.

Right?

* * *

Soris screamed something in the background that came away muffled and unintelligible. She didn't care what it was, if it mattered. She just watched as Nelaros fell, watched at crimson painted the filthy stone floor. The guards that loomed above his limp body looked like death, with the middle one's sword dripping the remains of a wasted life.

Tabris didn't say a word.

She darted between the guards, her daggers finding vulnerability where armored plating met; their screams were those of the knowingly damned. It brought a sick sense of justice burning in her being to watch them crumble, clutching at their wounds as if it would stop the bleeding. Warmth splashed across her bare wrist as she slashed at the last one, and she shuddered. Not in disgust.

When they lay in their own pools of red, she could breath in more than sharp pants. But it scared her when the copper tinge hit her nose.

Soris kneeled over Nelaros, his face twisted into a look of anguish. "He didn't deserve that," he mumbled quietly. His hand shook as he raised it to touch his fallen brethren's forehead.

"Come on," Tabris growled, an animalistic sound that caught in her throat and sounded choked. "We still have to find the others." She refused to look at the man that had ended up giving his life to save her and the others.

When Soris sighed and stood, she reached for the door, prepared to leave and never return. But his voice stopped her. "Wait..."

She paused. Didn't look back but cocked her head to let him know she was listening. He hesitated before stepping up and holding out an outstretched hand. When she dared glance at it, she saw how it trembled.

Her jaw clenched painfully tight when she slowly turned over her palm, let him place his find there. Cold and metal and... A ring.

A beautiful golden band, unblemished, new. She didn't have to ask where it had come from. She bit her tongue as she fingered it, blinked back the sudden onslaught of tears that burned her sight. The small trinket slipped effortlessly onto her finger.

He must have asked her father, she realized. And then she hated herself even more.

Tabris closed her hand into a fist, then slammed it into the door with a cry that was more a sob and let the stinging be a reminder. Not everyone made it out alive; that was part of being an elf. The alienage waned in size every other day.

Soris didn't speak after that, just let her take a moment alone. She appreciated that more than she'd ever be able to put into words. But they still had to find Shianni. Tabris swore silently that if that human bastard had laid a single finger on her she would personally rip his heart out of his chest.

She gathered her bearings as best she could, wiped at her face and nodded to the door. "Come on," she said again, though it was far quieter than before. Soris didn't argue.

They made their way from room to room, a sea of red trailing them. Tabris couldn't be bothered that the creases of her ruffled dress were permanently stained with death; she didn't notice how Soris looked at her, fear and amazement and disgust marring his features. She didn't give a single guard the chance to beg for his life.

They made it to Vaughan's room. An armed bodyguard awaited them, and Tabris didn't even think as she threw herself at him. His sword nicked her shoulder, then her thigh. She winced and stumbled, rolled when he came barreling at her. An arrow whizzed past her and lodged itself firmly in the man's throat. He gurgled and choked, died where he fell.

Tabris wiped at the bleeding gash along her arm but waved off Soris' attempt to help. All she cared about now was what lay behind this final door.

With a deep breath, she pushed it open.

She wasn't prepared for what she found.

The first thing that hit her was the smell. Sharp and tangy and salty, a stomach turning sort of stench that was too masculine in its origin and too telling in its existence. She almost pushed Soris back so he wouldn't have to witness what she knew he was about to.

Shianni lay in the middle of the floor, feet away from the bed, dress pulled up to her navel and spots of red staining the carpet beneath her bareness. Her face was emotionless, empty, as if the life had been drained away and all that remained was a corpse. To see those dark eyes so devoid was terrifying.

She was being held down by one of the men that had been with Vaughan when he came to the alienage. He looked up with a sick, predatory-like grin when the door swung open, as did Vaughan and the other human who stood apart from the scene but still there.

Tabris had never felt the need to vomit hit her so hard in her entire life. What made it far worse, however, was the choked, gasping sob Soris couldn't help but let slip out when he glanced over her shoulder. The grip she had on the longsword she'd procured earlier tightened till her knuckles blanched and threatened to crack with the pressure.

Vaughan smiled a cocky simper as he stepped forward, gesturing as he spoke. "Well, look who's joined us, boys."

The man that had been holding down Shianni rose from his knees to his feet. He snarled, "Want us to take care of them?"

Vaughan shot him a look as both cronies came up to stand beside their leader. "They're covered in enough blood to fill a tub and you think to ask that?!"

Tabris didn't want to talk. She was physically shaking, rage bubbling in her body to heights so extreme she could taste the acidity of the slurs her tongue nearly threw. Only the unsteady hand Soris cupped her shoulder with kept her from lunging.

Vaughan seemed unphased by her anger. His grin grew and he cleared his throat. "I think we can settle this, yes? If you kill me, what do you think my father will have done to your precious alienage, hm? I'm offering 40 sovereigns and your continued life to just walk away. The women will be returned to you. Eventually."

Tabris saw red. How _dare_ he even suggest she leave. How _dare_ he think he could just get away with what he had done.

Her answer came in the form of an earpiercing battle cry that echoed off the walls and had everyone wincing. Soris couldn't hold her back as she rushed forward, blade sinking far too easily into the stomach of the man on Vaughan's right. His stunned face turned a shade so white it was eerie as she twisted the sword. He brokenly coughed, and she felt the sickening wetness hit her cheek.

When he fell, she caught how the other nameless man did as well, courtesy of Soris and his deadly crossbow aim. All that remained was Vaughan. And Tabris would sell her soul before she let him run.

He was a coward, she realized, as she made her way towards him. In the moment of battle, he'd dashed across the room to a small desk, and as she advanced he held up the most pitiful excuse for a dagger she'd ever seen. He held it and she raised her blood soaked sword and she watched as his throat bobbed with a heavy swallow.

"You can still let me go," he tried, but she raised the blade and brought it down swiftly. His words ended in an agonizing scream as his hand fell away; he clutched the bleeding stump to his chest, face ghostly pale and eyes wide with unspoken pleas. Tabris couldn't care less.

She snarled at him, lips pulled back to reveal teeth. She snarled and she stepped forward until he cowered against the desk, inches apart. He was a good head taller than her, and yet she stood straight and enraged and bloodthirsty above him. Tears of pain and fear mapped courses down his stubbled cheeks.

"P-please," he sobbed. "Please..."

"Did you let the elves you took go?!" She punctuated the question by stabbing forward, the blade sinking into the meat of his thigh. He screamed pain that only intensified when she pulled back. "Did you give any of them a chance to leave?!" He stumbled and fell and she used the grip of the sword to smash against his face. His upper lip split and his nose became a fountain.

He choked. "Y-you..."

She grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanked his head back to meet his gaze. She leaned in close enough that she could see the light dusting of freckles along his broken nose, almost hidden by the blood. He looked at her in the same manner a frightened child might.

"Human scum," she breathed. "May your Maker find more mercy for you than I can."

He didn't have time to react before her sword was buried through his neck. His face contorted, eyes bulged. His remaining hand came up to claw at the weapon uselessly. She watched and she let him go, let him fall to the floor. His blood stained everything. She didn't think it would ever wash out of the creases of her hands.

For a moment the world was still. Vaughan's bloodied gasps ended and he lay motionless and Tabris just stood there. But then Soris called out her name and she turned and her eyes came to rest on the elf still laying on the floor. Shianni. Sometime during the craze, she'd pulled down her dress and was leaning heavily on an arm, watching with wide, confused eyes.

Tabris moved shakily to her side.

"I'll go let the others out," she heard Soris say, but it didn't matter to her.

She reached out a filthy hand, touched the softness of her cousin's face. Shianni winced but didn't pull away. Tabris' fingers came back wet with tears.

"Did you kill them?" the redhead asked, and the way her voice faltered broke something inside Tabris.

She nodded, though it took far more than she anticipated. "All of them, Shianni. Every single human in this place."

Her younger cousin nodded, swallowed hard. When she shifted, her inhale was sharp, and Tabris wishes Vaughan would come back to life just so she could butcher him again. "G-good. Can we... I want to go home."

Tabris nodded slowly, looked up when Soris entered with the women. Valora gasped at the scene she stepped into but kept quiet. "Can you walk?" she asked Shianni.

The redhead nodded, but it took help to get her up from the carpet, and even then she leaned heavily against her cousin. The arm Tabris snaked round her waist was both steady and reassuring.

"Come on. Soris, you take the rear. Let's get out of here."

Her cousin nodded his head eagerly, eyes darting around the room one final time. "Fine with me. I've had enough of this place to last a lifetime..."

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ Hey guys! So I'm starting this, as you can see. Though I realize just how dark this scene became, I'm hoping that the majority of this story will not be so angst heavy.**

 **So, female rogue City Elf. I'm thinking that this will cover the majority of the game's storyline. I do not, however, know who she should romance. So I'm gonna let you guys decide!**

 **Obviously the romance won't come into play for a short while, so that'll give you guys a chance to sort of vote almost. It can be just about anyone, so feel free to tell me what you think!**

 **Thanks guys! Be sure to comment your answers! -LL**


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